Ener1 Lithium-ion Battery in Cars By End of '08
Date: Dec 14th, 2007 2:00:53 am - Subscribe
Mood: wanted
A few days ago, Charles Gassenheimer, the chairman of Ener1, Inc. came out in the headlines on Fox Business News. According to Gassenheimer, by the end of 2008, the alternative energy company will carry out its automotive Lithium-ion battery to several markets.
Here are some added quotes courtesy of The Auto Channel:
"Our batteries have already been tested by the United States Advanced Battery Consortium, which is General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. We are the only battery company today using this Lithium-ion technology, which has met or exceeded all of the Big Three's requirements, especially and most importantly best-in-class in safety," Mr. Gassenheimer told viewers of the Fox morning broadcast "CEO Corner".
"We have already announced a commercial contract with Think Electric Vehicle in Norway," Gassenheimer added, referring to a $70 million development and supply agreement signed in October. "It's the largest electric vehicle company in Europe. You will see our batteries in their cars by the end of 2008," the Ener1 chairman told interviewer Alexis Glick.
"This is really a supply problem," Gassenheimer commented to Fox, adding that the few U.S. companies currently involved in manufacturing Lithium-ion automotive batteries, rather than competing directly against each other, are collectively building a new industry. He says that Japanese automaker Toyota now accounts for 90 percent of the battery market for electrical transportation and that U.S. industry must rapidly catch up or risk ceding a major share of the new car market to foreign carmakers.
"Much of the world now, including Detroit, grasps that more efficient internal combustion engines and biofuels such as ethanol will not bring about the major environmental improvements and freedom from foreign oil that the times demand. That the Lithium-ion battery is the Holy Grail is now a given, and we and others have proven that it's a fully realizable technology for revolutionizing automotive transportation," said Mr. Gassenheimer.
